Searching for quality-reliable pellet stove...need your input

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lightyear

Member
Dec 24, 2010
163
Maryland
2500 square feet give or take. 2 stories, dual zones, but hate paying the expensive heat bills. Heat pumps heat the house.

Interested in replacing a gas fireplace we have in our house.

I like the Harman p35i and maybe the harman accentra xxv. also curious about the US STove americana 6041 series (insert)

how well will the p35i heat the downstairs (1000 ft) overall? I have 2 main rooms downstairs. The kitchen and family room are connected (fireplace in there) and then there is a wall dividing the family room from the dining room and living room. Dining room and Living room are the larger rooms (open) but we only go in there for our big TV (we also have a smaller tv in the fireplace room).


Man, I feel like I am rambling...I don't want to overheat the downstairs (especially the kitch and family room) or underheat it either.

please help! Here is fireplace which runs longwise with the kitchen (picture taken from kitchen)

Here is also family and dining room (we no longer have the large china cabinet, just the bottom)

YOU CAN SEE THE WALL THE CHINA CABINET IS ON IS THE WALL THAT THE SOFA WITH THE FIREPLACE IS AGAINST.
Do you think it would make more sense to put it in the dining room living room (we don't eat there often-we have an eat in kitchen.
 

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lightyear said:
I don't want to overheat the downstairs (especially the kitch and family room) or underheat it either.
Click to expand...

Well, unfortunately pellet stoves don't heat very evenly. You're going to end up with some very noticeable heat differences if you get a pellet stove.

In my house it is often 78 degrees near the stove and 60 degrees upstairs. This suits us just fine but I'm not sure it's right for you based upon your comment.

If you need even heat from pellets you should consider a pellet boiler system.
 
My opinion is probably considierd by many to be very skewed.

I always buy used any more. I installed 2 used stoves, one at each end of a 2400 ft Ranch style house.

One larger stove for deep winter and one little tiny stove for a helper if its gets really cold and to handle the shoulder seasons.

I like manual light stoves that are simple to run simple to diagnose and fix.

The used market can be great if you are handy and do your own repairs and instalations.

Myself, If I were you, I would look the house over well and see if a two stove layout would work.

You get a more even heating, plus you do have abackup in case one fails.

Just my 2Cents worth


Snowy
 
If your main interest is heating the one level, you should get satisfactory heat from one stove insert. Just don't get a huge unit. The room with the stove in it will your "short sleeve" room often in the upper 70's, the other areas will be in the lower to mid 70's I'm heating my raised ranch about 2200 sq ft. with no areas under 70. My furnace is set to kick in then. Runs a few minutes but does an excellent job of distributing the heat evenly about. I would take setting next to a wood burning stove any day over centralized heat. There is just so much comfort from it, very tranquil. I burn about 5 tons of pellets and less than 200 gallons of oil (also get my hot water from the oil)
While there is much you can do to maximize the heating capacity of a pellet stove, there remains the basic concept that, by design, a pellet stove is a space heater. But like other have said, the space they heat is their home!
Merry Chirstmas/holiday
 
If you are looking to distribute the heat throughout the entire 2 story house evenly you should look at the Ecoteck line of stoves. They have several models that can be ducted and additional fans that can push the heat up to 50' (total duct length).

Here is a page on their site that explains this feature: http://www.ecoteck.us/ducted-heat/

I looked into these stoves myself to heat my 4500SF home. I ended up getting two stoves instead. This gave me more control over heating the lower level when it was unoccupied.

Good Luck
 
I am thinking of getting a free standing one and putting it in the dining room and living room area. that would make the most sense for the whole house, plus we could take it with us if we left...and we would still have our gas fireplace if we ever lost power...does that sound smart?

thinking of the harman xxv now?

trying to load pics...
these views are from dining room into kitchen-sorry it is a mess, thanksgiving day prep last year (our first!)
 

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Have you looked at the Enviro M55 or the Empress shop around go see a bunch of stove dealers and learn a little from each on. Read a bunch on here and be happy once you by a stove. I have used a pellet stove for 13 years and love the heat and saving over the cost of oil. I am about to upgrade to the Maxx or the Maxx-M. :wow:
 
You said you were interestedd in replacing a gas fireplace. Do you have NG or propain?
 
we have propane.

I have been thinking that it would be smarter to keep the fireplace in tact and get a free standing heater in the other rooms. that way we can heat all of downstairs and get more heat upstairs...not sure where to put it though..
 
lightyear said:
I am thinking of getting a free standing one and putting it in the dining room and living room area. that would make the most sense for the whole house, plus we could take it with us if we left...and we would still have our gas fireplace if we ever lost power...does that sound smart?

thinking of the harman xxv now?

trying to load pics...
these views are from dining room into kitchen-sorry it is a mess, thanksgiving day prep last year (our first!)
Click to expand...

Put the stove where you need the heat...
 
Hmmm maybe get 3 or 4 of those Ecoaire window pellet stoves and let us know how they work out?
 
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